PTSD Is Not a Life Sentence: Pennsylvania Needs to Pass House Bill 231 — Here’s Why

By Catherine Tang

Catherine Tang is a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania majoring in Health and Societies with a concentration in Health Policy & Law.

To no one’s surprise, the US is leading the world in terms of incarceration rates with 1 in 4 of the world’s inmates in a US prison or jail. [1] A less commonly discussed statistic, however, is how 107,400 of the incarcerated population are veterans, and there are currently more veterans behind bars in the US than there are total prisoners in all but 14 other countries. [2] In fact, one-third of veterans self-report having been arrested at least once compared to fewer than one-fifth of civilians, [3] and nearly twice as many veterans as non-veterans are serving life sentences. [4] However, many of these incarcerated veterans were sentenced without their service-related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) taken into account. ​

Part of the reason is the novelty of PTSD as a concept. In fact, it was only in 1980 that the American Psychology Association even recognized PTSD as an official mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-III. This is particularly worrisome given that about 2 in 5 male combat veterans in state (41%) and federal (36%) prisons served in Vietnam, [5] meaning it is extremely likely that those serving life sentences may have slipped through the cracks. 

Even the Department of Veterans Affairs itself only started mandatory TBI screenings in 2007 after the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. [6] Compounding this delay, in a courtroom setting, it is currently left up to the judge’s discretion to call for a psychiatric screening or evaluation—an action rarely performed due to persistent funding issues. However, the rate of PTSD in male veterans is four to five times higher than in the general population, and veterans diagnosed with PTSD are more than 60% more likely to have justice system involvement than veterans without. [7] As such, we can reasonably infer that a veteran diagnosed with PTSD is much more likely to face incarceration when their service-related disability is not taken into account during their trial. 

Mental health, however, should be treated, not punished. With this framework in mind, the Pennsylvania legislature should pass House Bill 231 during the 2023-2024 Regular Session. Introduced by Representative Carol Evans-Hill, HB 231 was introduced in the 2021-2022 Regular Session but saw no further action after being referred to judiciary. The mechanisms of the bill are retroactive and amend Title 42 (Judiciary & Judicial Procedures) to ensure that service-connected mental health disabilities, defined as “incurred in the course of and as a result of active duty or training for active duty in the United States,” can be introduced as mitigating factors during a post-conviction review appeal. [8] In other words, incarcerated veterans can petition their sentence in court if their initial conviction did not consider their service-connected PTSD or TBI.

An obvious objection is that incarcerated veterans should not be able to use PTSD as an excuse for their actions and that HB 231 would provide an overly broad blanket cover to an array of crimes. However, the bill functions so that service-connected mental disabilities are only used as a mitigating factor, meaning that veterans do not automatically receive a more lenient sentence, especially given that similar categories of petitions like insanity pleas are so unlikely that defense attorneys only use them in less than one percent of criminal trials. [9] Another consideration is that the bill may lead to a sudden influx of petitions and overflood the court system. However, it is important to remember that it takes time for petitions to be filed and that some veterans may not know about the bill or not have the resources to contact a lawyer to file a petition on their behalf, meaning it is extremely unlikely that enacting HB 231 will bring the court system to a scraping halt. 

HB 231 has already been introduced in this upcoming legislative session, and legislators should vote in favor. If a veteran has incurred a service-related mental disability from serving our country, the fact that their PTSD or TBI is not even considered during their trial is a slap in the face to our recent celebration of Veteran’s Day. They have gone above and beyond to serve our country, and it is high time that our legal system fulfills its duty to them. It is only what the 107,400 veterans behind bars rightfully deserve.

Looking beyond the bill and into the future, however, we should not remain satisfied with patching up holes; rather, we should be focusing on preventing them in the first place. The solution? Better pre-conviction screening procedures. PTSD and TBI should be screened in every veteran facing incarceration by a clinician professionally certified or specially trained in traumatic assessment, TBI, or neurology so that their service-connected mental disability is immediately considered at the time of their trial. Ultimately, the passage of HB 231 is a temporary remedy that should pave the way to long-lasting change. 
​
[1] “Mass Incarceration.” American Civil Liberties Union. www.aclu.org/issues/smart-justice/mass-incarceration#:~:text=Despite%20making%20up%20close%20to,outpacing%20population%20growth%20and%20crime.
 
[2] Maruschak, Laura M. et al. “Veterans in Prison: Survey of Prison Inmates, 2016.” Bureau of Justice Statistics, March 2021. https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/veterans-prison-survey-prison-inmates-2016.

[3] “Council Launches National Veterans Justice Commission with Former U.S. Defense Secretaries Hagel, Panetta.” Council on Criminal Justice, August 23, 2022. https://counciloncj.org/pr-vjc-preliminary-assessment/#:~:text=Roughly%20one%20third%20of%20veterans,in%20U.S.%20prisons%20and%20jails.

[4] Kube, Courtney. “Commission will study why veterans are more likely than nonveterans to get in trouble with the law.” NBC News, August 23, 2022. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/commission-will-study-veterans-are-likely-non-veterans-get-trouble-law-rcna44326

[5] Maruschak, Laura M. et al. “Veterans in Prison: Survey of Prison Inmates, 2016.” Bureau of Justice Statistics, March 2021. https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/veterans-prison-survey-prison-inmates-2016

[6] “Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Screening and Evaluation Implemented for OEF/OIF Veterans, but Challenges Remain.” Government Accountability Office, February 2008. https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-08-276.pdf

[7] Orak, Ugur. “From Service to Sentencing: Unraveling Risk Factors for Criminal Justice Involvement Among U.S. Veterans.” Council on Criminal Justice, October 23, 2023. https://counciloncj.org/from-service-to-sentencing-unraveling-risk-factors-for-criminal-justice-involvement-among-u-s-veterans/#:~:text=Surveys%20have%20found%20that%205,38%25%20of%20veterans%20have%20PTSD.&text=Additional%20analyses%20show%20that%20the,violent%20offenses%20are%2059%25%20greater.

[8] “VVA & PWVC Testimony on House Bill 231.” House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee Public Hearing, October 2, 2023. www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/TR/Transcripts/2023_0360_0002_TSTMNY.pdf.

[9] Simrin, Jonathan. “Does Pleading Insanity Work?” Seeker, March 6, 2015.  www.seeker.com/does-pleading-insanity-work-1792547505.html.

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